Former Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is under fire over alleged attempt to hijack the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) structure in Kano State.
Senior party officials accused the one-time governor of excluding non-Kwankwasiyya members from contesting elective offices on its platform.
The allegations were made by the party’s Northwest Vice Chairman Mohammed Rabiu Serina and Kano State Chairman Hussaini Isa Mariga, in a statement issued yesterday.
The party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) adopted far-reaching resolutions aimed at strengthening party supremacy and institutional discipline.
Serina and Mariga, who described themselves as pioneer members of the party, said they were appointed by the party’s National Leader, former Bayelsa State Governor Henry Seriake Dickson, before the party’s registration and later confirmed as substantive officers through congresses and the national convention.
According to them, they were instrumental in building the party’s structures across Kano State and the Northwest before Kwankwaso and his supporters joined the party.
The officials said they welcomed the former governor into the NDC and were directed by the party leadership to work closely with him in the interest of strengthening the platform.
However, they alleged that problems began when Kwankwaso sought complete control of the party structure in Kano State during the state congresses.
They said the dispute prompted the intervention of the party’s national leader, Seriake Dickson who convened a meeting and brokered an agreement granting Kwankwaso and his supporters 60 per cent control of the party structure in Kano, while the party retained 40 per cent.
According to them, the arrangement preserved the positions of the state chairman and the Northwest vice chairman, a compromise they said was accepted by all parties.
The officials alleged that the former governor later reneged on the spirit of the agreement during the nomination process by restricting access to nomination forms to members of the Kwankwasiyya Movement.
They claimed that none of the 40 State House of Assembly forms, 24 House of Representatives forms, three Senatorial forms and the governorship nomination form was made available to party members outside the Kwankwasiyya fold.
According to them, neither the state chairman, the Northwest vice chairman, nor other longstanding party stakeholders, who were not members of the movement were considered for nominations.
Serina said several appeals made to Kwankwaso to accommodate other stakeholders were rejected despite efforts to reach a compromise.
He recounted how he personally appealed to the former governor to release a few State Assembly and House of Representatives nomination forms to non-Kwankwasiyya members while leaving all senatorial positions under his control, but the request was allegedly turned down.
The officials said the matter was subsequently reported to the party leadership, prompting interventions by Dickson and the National Working Committee (NWC).
According to them, Dickson and Kwankwaso met twice and urged him to adopt a more inclusive approach, while the NWC also sent a delegation to seek a resolution.
They alleged that all the efforts failed because the former governor insisted on total control of the party’s structures and nomination process in Kano State.
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